When the two new American Copper rental buildings emerged from the ground next to Manhattan’s East River, fire engines rushed to the site. The firefighters were convinced that the two tall towers — connected by the city’s first sky bridge in 80 years — were falling down because of their unusual curved structure.
In a new behind-the-scenes video documenting the design and construction of this innovative piece of architecture, developer JDS discusses the moment a barrage of firemen stormed the building in a bid to prevent disaster.
“There were firemen running onto the site,” Michael Jones, a director at JDS, said. “We started running after them to try to figure out what was wrong. I finally grabbed the chief and I said ‘What’s going on?’ He said ‘We got a call —the buildings are falling down!’ We just stopped and went ‘No they’re supposed to be like that’.”
The two towers at 626 First Avenue were erected at the same time before being connected with a bridge in mid air. The video details how the first step in building the bridge was to throw a piece of string from one tower to the other. From that they pulled a rope across, then cables and so on.
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Not only is this the city’s first major new skybridge in 80 years, but it’s also Manhattan’s first sky pool. There will be a 75-foot lap pool on the bridge and residents of the two rental towers will have views of the Empire State Building, the East River and the Manhattan skyline while swimming 300 feet in the air between the buildings.
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There will be 761 apartments in the building, ranging from studios to three-bedrooms. Amenities include a rooftop infinity pool, the indoor 75' skybridge lap pool, a Turkish-style marble hammam, fitness center and a juice bar. The two copper towers will eventually turn green like the Statue of Liberty, but the developers don’t know exactly when this will happen.